Efrain-Abran Gutierrez: In dad's footsteps, on his own path

Updated 7:47 pm, Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Efrain-Abran Gutierrez, son of Chicano filmmaker Efrain Gutierrez, is continuing his father's craft of filmmaking but has also delved into the world of hip-hop and rap videos.

Efrain-Abran Gutierrez, son of Chicano filmmaker Efrain Gutierrez, is continuing his father's craft of filmmaking but has also delved into the world of hip-hop and rap videos.

Photo: John Davenport, San Antonio Express-News

Efrain-Abran Gutierrez: In dad's footsteps, on his own path

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What's it like being the only son of Efrain Gutierrez, the pioneering, fast-talking and sometimes controversial Chicano filmmaker, actor and activist?

Idyllic to intense, says hip-hop record producer and videographer Efrain-Abran Gutierrez, who as a child growing up in Laredo wasn't aware of his dad's true stature.

It wasn't for lack of clues.

So what if there was a lot of film junk everywhere in the house? Or that famous friends and musicos dropped in at all hours?

The weight is heavier now for an upstart who's the spitting image of the man who in the late '60s and early '70s produced the first indie Chicano cinema with "Please Don't Bury Me Alive," "Chicano Amor es Para Siempre" and "Run Tecato Run."

"It's a lot to live up to and a lot of expectations," Gutierrez said. "I've grown up with nothing ever being good enough. My dad expects a lot and wants the best. But I love it."

Gutierrez opened the production company Landmine Entertainment on Vance Jackson Road about two years ago with partner Rafael Delgado. The business is involved in music videos, corporate videos, television commercials and hip-hop music.

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"I've had a camera since I was a kid. I grew up with video cameras," said Gutierrez, who briefly considered becoming a doctor. Like his father, Efrain-Abran believes the role of the filmmaker is to reflect his community.

There's compassion in his voice, echoing his father's love of underdogs and lost causes.

"The difference with my father, than working with other people, is that with my dad, when he tells you something, he really tells you because he feels it, he believes it," Gutierrez said.

"When he hugs you, you know. You feel, like, 'That's a hug!' You can feel his passion behind it. And if he's angry at you, you feel it the same way."

Gutierrez says he never felt intimidated by his father. In the same breath, he explains he learned patience from his mother, Irma Gutierrez.

As intense as his filmmaker dad can be, it's telling that the son was well into his teens before discovering the legacy.

After all, by the '90s, Efrain Gutierrez had been retired as a renegade filmmaker for years and was known only to a handful of film scholars.

"I never put two and two together of who he was until I was in high school," Gutierrez said.

And that happened only after an innocent Internet search. He'd Googled his own name and saw the entries that popped up for his legendary dad.

"He's just a young kid that's so passionate about his music," Gutierrez said. "It's got that Latin feel with a faster (Puerto Rican-style) beat and a little bit more action to it."

TommyJoe's debut CD, "2035 Intergalaktiko," is out today. It's a concept album whose lyrics meld events from the past and the future and sounds "like it's not from here," the young artist says.

"You may not know what I'm saying, but it sounds good," said TommyJoe, 23.

"Efrain gave me that little extra push I was looking for. I think it was just meant to be."

Gutierrez avoids labels and is a self-described jack-of-all-trades. But he draws the line at what projects he'll take - "pretty much anything but quinceañeras and weddings."

"I won't jump into anything like a porno or something like that," he added. "I'm not going to degrade myself. I was asked to do a commercial, and (the customer) wanted to do a lazy Mexican eating a taco. That's degrading. And they were, like, 'It'll be funny.'

"I was, like, 'You need to find somebody else.' "

He makes no apologies for serving San Antonio's underground rap and hip-hop scene.

"People that don't know it, they hear it and they think, 'It's so bad. They're talking so dirty.' What they're really (singing about) is what's around them and what they know," Gutierrez said.

"That's what I've realized. My dad really doesn't like most of it. He thinks it's degrading towards women and gross. I like the beat of it. But it's people just telling you how it is. That's when you realize, they're just asking for help without asking for it."